In this grammar lesson you will learn how to say miss you in French.
In this lesson you will learn about:
- how to say miss you in French
- how to miss something emotionally in French
- how to have missed something in French
- how to lack something in French
- how this idiom is used in sentences
- how you can quiz yourself on how to say miss you in French
- the way Anki files can be downloaded for how to say miss you in French
Please refer to the French A2 Curriculum to get a better overview of French grammar, if you are curious about this idiom fits in French A2 grammar.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about how to say miss you in French!
Table of Contents
Introduction to How to say Miss You in French
In French, there is a difference between missing someone/something emotionally, having missed something, and lacking something
When you miss someone/something emotionally there’s often a personal connection between you and the other person or thing.
You can miss your parents, your siblings, or your partner.
There is an emotional connection between you and these groups.
It is also possible to have missed something.
You can miss your bus, a concert, or a party.
Perhaps you were too late, or you messed up the dates.
Finally, it’s also possible that someone/something lacks something.
Think of a dish lacking salt, a person lacking a sense of humour, or simply lacking money.
In all of these 3 cases, you will use the French verb manquer.
However, each usage has a different way of using manquer.
In this lesson you will learn how to say miss you in French with all of these 3 usages.
To Miss Someone/Something Emotionally
If you want to say that you miss something emotionally, then you will use the following idiom:
- manquer (à) = to miss someone/something emotionally
Mon frère manque à mes parents.
My parents miss my brother.
Paul manque à ma soeur.
My sister misses Paul.
Stella manque à mon fils.
My son misses Stella.
Tu manques à Jean.
Jean misses you.
Samuel manque à Annabelle.
Annabelle misses Samuel.
As you can see, in French it’s exactly the opposite way.
If you say that “you miss someone emotionally”, then you have to reverse the structure.
The person or thing is missing you
Also, if you want to say that someone is missing me/you/him/her/us/them, then you will use:
- me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur + manquer
Tu me manques.
I miss you.
Je sais que je te manque.
I know that you miss me.
Elle me manque.
I miss her.
Je lui manque.
She misses me.
Ils me manquent.
I miss them.
Je leur manque.
They miss me.
Tu nous manques.
We miss you.
Nous te manquons.
You miss us.
If you are having difficulties with indirect object pronouns, then please read the lesson on how to use lui and leur, as well as the lesson on how to use me/te/nous/vous.
To Have Missed Something
If you want to say that you missed something, then you will use the following idiom:
- manquer [quelque chose] = to miss [something] / to fail to attend [something]
J’ai manqué mon bus.
I missed my bus.
Il a manqué la fête.
He missed the party.
Avez-vous manqué le concert ?
Did you miss the concert?
J’ai manqué l’école aujourd’hui.
I missed school today.
In this usage, the structure is NOT flipped.
This is similar to how “missing something” is used in English.
To Lack Something
If you want to say that something is lacking, then you will use the following idiom:
- manquer de [quelque chose] = to lack [something]
Je pense que la soupe manque un peu de sel.
I think the soup lacks a bit of salt.
Jean manque de sens de l’humour.
Jean is lacking a sense of humour.
Je manque de confiance.
I lack confidence.
Je suis fatigué par manque de sommeil.
I am tired from lack of sleep.
In this usage, the structure is NOT flipped.
This is similar to how “lacking something” is used in English.
Furthermore, you never use partitive article (du/de la/des) in this case.
Sentences Overview on How to say Miss You in French
The final section of this lesson on how to say miss you in French is about seeing the idioms in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding on how to miss you in French through examples.
Here you can find the sentences of the previous chapters, neatly stored in one place.
Mon frère manque à mes parents.
My parents miss my brother.
Paul manque à ma soeur.
My sister misses Paul.
Stella manque à mon fils.
My son misses Stella.
Tu manques à Jean.
Jean misses you.
Samuel manque à Annabelle.
Annabelle misses Samuel.
Tu me manques.
I miss you.
Je sais que je te manque.
I know that you miss me.
Elle me manque.
I miss her.
Je lui manque.
She misses me.
Ils me manquent.
I miss them.
Je leur manque.
They miss me.
Tu nous manques.
We miss you.
Nous te manquons.
You miss us.
J’ai manqué mon bus.
I missed my bus.
Il a manqué la fête.
He missed the party.
Avez-vous manqué le concert ?
Did you miss the concert?
J’ai manqué l’école aujourd’hui.
I missed school today.
Je pense que la soupe manque un peu de sel.
I think the soup lacks a bit of salt.
Jean manque de sens de l’humour.
Jean is lacking a sense of humour.
Je manque de confiance.
I lack confidence.
Je suis fatigué par manque de sommeil.
I am tired from lack of sleep.
Quiz Yourself on How to say Miss You in French
It’s not enough to just read this lesson on how to say miss you in French.
You should test your knowledge to see if you really understood everything, and to be able to repeat the material.
It is also for this reason that it is recommended to download the Anki Decks and practice them.
At the end of every lesson you can do a small test.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter. It is up to you to give the correct answer.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want!
Anki File for How to say Miss You in French
It is important to do the Anki excercises for this lesson, so that you can remember what you just studied.
By downloading the Anki File for French A2 you can practice every French A2 lesson that is on Language Atlas.
At this moment the Anki File for this lesson doesn’t exist yet. However, in due time this will be available on Language Atlas.
If you don’t know why you should use Anki, or don’t know how to use Anki or merge Anki files please click here.
Anki can be downloaded from here.
